LOVE ISN'T EASY (but it sure is hard enough)

SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1994

Olivia was sat, as she usually was, alone. The chatter of the Great Hall seemed to fade into nothingness as she engrossed herself in the pages of an old, worn Shakespeare play. It was quieter than it normally was, what with it being roughly seven thirty in the morning. The few students that were present for breakfast this early were sat silently at the table with their eyes half shut, a slice of toast hanging in the space between their lips and fingertips. Either that or they were desperately flicking through pages of notes and textbooks, desperately scribbling down what they hoped would pass for homework that had definitely not been forgotten about and left to the very last minute. Olivia Danes was neither of these people, she was instead lost in the romance of two people who weren't even real. In a way, she felt more connected to the people in the pages than those who surrounded her.

Fiddling with the yellow tie that hung around her neck, she flipped the page and sipped slowly on the incredibly full mug of tea that was previously sat beside her, aiming to not spill any on the already brown and worn pages of Twelfth Night.

"Mind if I sit?" a voice asked. She nodded, her eyes not leaving the page even for a second. 'Love sought is good, but given unsought is better'. A soft sigh left her lips as she once again reached for the mug, before she finally caught sight of the green tie wrapped around the neck of the girl who sat there.

There wasn't a soul who wandered the halls of Hogwarts who didn't know who Juno Lennox was. Slytherin, pureblood, rich, incredibly sought after- and there was no question as to why. She was tall and slender, with long dark hair flowing down to her waist and nails so long it would make you wonder how she ever managed to get anything done with them. Her lips were full and her eyes held a cold mystery yet a strange warmth behind them. She was the daughter of two powerful ministry officials, a family so powerful some were afraid to speak their name. A family so strict that Juno wanted nothing more than to rebel, something that she appeared to be doing by sitting at a breakfast table that wasn't her own- a strange move, thought Olivia, but she was too focused on not saying anything stupid and scaring her away than she was to think about teenage rebellion. 'Come on Liv, say something! Anything!'

"You don't usually sit here"                                                                                                                                               
Fucked it.

"You're right", Juno said, a soft laugh escaping her lips as she smiled at the girl sitting across from her, "My roommates snore like mad and I couldn't take it anymore, thought I would come here a bit earlier and escape them. Saw you sat alone and thought I would come say hi. Is that okay?"

"Yeah of course!" Olivia answered, probably a tad quicker than she should have. "I just wasn't expecting it."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while, Juno filling up a plate and Olivia finishing the (now slightly cold) mug of tea. She closed the book, placing it in the bag beside her, and picked up a blueberry muffin.

"So what's your deal?"

"I'm sorry?" Juno stared at her almost as if she was questioning why she wasn't answering her question.

"What's your deal? Your story? We had like two classes together last year and I don't really know anything about you."

Olivia had no idea she had even been noticed. She had a few friends she stuck with and that was it, and most of those friends were the girls she shared a dorm with. Then there was Cho Chang, who was good for a gossip and a brilliant study partner, and Hermione. In all honesty she wasn't sure if she could call Hermione Granger a close friend or not, but she really enjoyed the times where their paths would cross in the library or when they traded their favourite muggle books like a two person book club.

"I'm not really that interesting in all honesty, wouldn't say that there was too much to know."

Juno really wasn't sure that was true in the slightest. The Hufflepuff was only an inch or so shorter than she was, with dark brown hair sitting just past her shoulders and bright blue eyes peering out from the thin round glasses that perched upon her nose. Her long fingers brushed the fringe away from her forehead, cheeks flushed as she desperately tried to think of something to say.

"Well I'm a half-blood, my Mum runs the bookshop down in Hogsmeade and my Dad owns this muggle record shop in Soho. I'm an only child, I'm obviously a Hufflepuff, and that's kind of it really. Not much more to say."

The room was beginning to fill up with people, their eyes wandering to the Slytherin girl at the Hufflepuff table. All of a sudden, Olivia began to feel rather self-conscious with all those people looking at her, and it just got even worse when Pansy Parkinson approached the table with her gang of equally unpleasant mates.

"Can I help you Parkinson?" Juno scowled, not bothering to pay the pug-faced girl any mind.

"You're sitting at the wrong table."

"I sit where I want, don't see why I have to explain myself to you."

"Surely by now you should know the wrong sort of people, Lennox, or is that another trait your parents didn't pass down."

Juno stood, towering over the shorter girl who, for a split second, looked scared.

"Danes is my mate, wouldn't expect you to know that considering your head's shoved too far up Malfoy's arse to notice though. Now piss off and let me enjoy my breakfast before I hex you and all your stupid pals."

One icy glare was all it took for the crowd to scurry away. Juno sat back down, the other students in the hall looking away quickly to avoid incurring any of the terrifying witch's wrath. She shot a smile at her new friend, who couldn't help but grin back at her with the brightness of a thousand suns before her eyes moved over towards the Gryffindor table. Hermione was sat there alongside Harry and Ron, who never seemed to be too far away, and Ron's twin brothers. Before she could get lost in her thoughts of one brother, she noticed Hermione standing and walking towards her. Smiling softly, she beckoned her over and pulled out a book that looked fairly similar to the one she was reading not too long ago.

"Morning 'Mione!"

"Good morning Olivia, just wanted to give you this back before I forgot." She shot a tight lipped smile towards Juno, acting as if she wasn't even those, and passed Olivia a damaged copy of Wuthering Heights.

"You're already done?! I gave you this one like two days ago!" She smiled, placing the book gently in her bag and passing her the new one. "I thought you would like this one, Dangerous Liaisons, contains what I think might be the most romantic passage ever written. Underlined that one for you, if you're interested."

Hermione's eyes lit up, and something in Juno's mind realised what made her new friend so special- she radiated a warmth and kindness that many sought after but few can achieve, a complete and utter selflessness that was bound to get her in trouble. The Gryffindor thanked Olivia over and over again, rushing off to meet her friends and opening the novel the second she was seated. Although Olivia seemed to miss the gentle stare of a ginger boy, Juno certainly didn't.

"Fancy heading to Divination early?" Juno asked, "I'm desperate to hear what Trelawney has to say about my eventual and painful death this week."

Olivia laughed, gathering her things and falling into a comfortable rhythm with the slightly taller girl. The pair left the great hall and several lingering eyes followed them, walking side by side and chatting as if they had known one another for years.

Rounding a corner, they spotted a couple of seventh years pushed up against a wall, snogging as if their lives depended on it. Locking eyes, they sniggered quietly as they walked past the pair.

"Merlin my eyes need bleaching after seeing that! I feel sick" Juno laughed, her voice bouncing off the old stone walls.

"He was practically eating her!" Olivia cried out. Their eyes filled with tears and their stomachs hurt from laughing so hard as they walked further away from the disgustingly happy couple to the tower at the other end of the building, the excitement of a newfound friendship filling their minds and the happiness of the memories to come fuelling their smiles even wider.